Owen Hargreaves brands Man United ‘ridiculous’ for squandering two-goal lead

Manchester United throwing away a 2-0 lead in their Europa League tie at Porto was “ridiculous”, according to former midfielder Owen Hargreaves.

After a 3-0 home humiliation in the Premier League by Tottenham on Sunday, Erik ten Hag’s beleaguered side made a fine start in Portugal through early strikes from Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund.

Porto, though, quickly reduced the deficit through Pepe before Samu Omorodion equalised before half-time and then struck again five minutes in the second half.

With nine minutes left, United were reduced to 10 men when captain Bruno Fernandes was sent off for the second successive game after collecting a second yellow card for a high boot.

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United, though, dug in to salvage a 3-3 draw when substitute Harry Maguire headed in from a corner in stoppage time.

Hargreaves, who won the Premier League title and 2008 Champions League with United, was left less than impressed by the way his old side did not built on their solid start.

“The first 20 minutes were really good, but then after that was a mess really,” Hargreaves said on TNT Sports.

“They didn’t stop any crosses – and to go 3-2 down after being 2-0 up was, even for United, ridiculous.

“The start was so good, then middle part of the game was crazy and then they found a way to fight back, but that is what it has been like for a couple of years.

“There will be a lot of questions. There are a lot of issues – he (Ten Hag) has been there for quite a while.

“Credit to them, they fought back and got a point, but that game should be out of sight.

“There are tough games for Manchester United coming up, but they need to find something.

“Erik’s resilient – he has shown that – but Villa Park (in the Premier League on Sunday) is going to be so tough.

“It is a big test and he needs to find a way to bounce back.”

Former England midfielder Karen Carney felt United’s display again lacked consistency.

“It is like chaos isn’t it?” she said. “I genuinely don’t know what I am going to get when I watch them. It is just a roller coaster.”

Carney felt Fernandes let his frustrations boil over when he should have stayed calm.

“If you are captain and it looks like the manager can’t have control and the captain can’t have control, that is maybe Bruno Fernandes’ way of showing his frustration,” she said.

“The other one (red card) against Spurs was rescinded, but you can’t ignore it – he still kicked out. It is frustration.”